Buckeyes Open Season Friday

Seven NCAA qualifiers return this season

Keanu Stevenson

Oct. 24, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team jump starts its regular season against Division III powerhouse Kenyon and Cleveland State at 6 p.m. Friday in the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The meet is a double dual event with the Ohio State women’s swimming and diving also hosting Cleveland State and Kenyon. Admission is free.

The meet will be the start of what coach Bill Wadley, entering his 24th season as Buckeye coach, anticipates will be another outstanding year for the Scarlet and Gray. The team is coming off its fourth-consecutive Top 3 finish– 2nd – at a Big Ten championship, while also finishing in the Top 15 at an NCAA championship for the fourth-consecutive season.

“We have a lot of young guys right now that are developing and we expect some surprising results from some of them,” Wadley said. “We have high goals and like any team we start the year off with the biggest of dreams. Our goal is to be competitive for a conference championship and be a Top 10 team in the nation as well as lead the Big Ten in the classroom.”

HALLOWEEN NIGHTThe regular season opener will be Halloween Night at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Fans are encourage to dress up as the best costume will win a Buckeye Prize Pack, while Halloween candy will also be handed out. Come out and support the Buckeyes in your best costume Friday!

ORDER OF EVENTSThe meet will be run with alternating women’s and men’s races with two breaks for 1- and 3-meter diving competitions. The order events will be:

200 medley relay

1000 free

200 free

100 back

100 breast

200 fly

50 free

1-meter diving

100 free

200 back

200 breast

500 free

100 fly

3-meter diving

200 IM

200 free relay

HEAD COACH Bill WadleyBill Wadley enters his 24th year at the helm of the Ohio State men’s swimming program. Wadley has coached 16 Olympians and his team has been ranked in the NCAA Top 25 for 20 of the past 23 seasons. Buckeye swimmers and divers have qualified for the NCAA championships in 20 of Wadley’s 23 years as coach. His Ohio State dual-meet record of 205-33, which is the most dual wins in program history. Wadley has also produced more than 35 world-ranked swimmers.

WELCOME NEW ASSISTANT Dave RollinsDave Rollins in his first season as an Ohio State assistant coach. Rollins, a nine-time All-American at the University of Arizona (2003-06), joins the program with seven years of coaching experience at all levels of swimming. Rollins most recent positions were in Cincinnati, where he was the head coach of the west satellite location for the Marlins and was an assistant with St. Xavier High School.

BY THE NUMBERS 3 - Members of the 200m freestyle relay - Zach Holmes, Jason Schnur and Zach Birnbrich - will return this season for a shot at dropping their already impressive school record time of 1:17.704 - Number of freshmen ranked among the Top 10 swimmers in the state of Ohio by CollegeSwimming.com. Josh Fleagle leads the pack arriving at Ohio State as the Buckeye state's No. 1 recruit.9 - Consecutive seasons Ohio State has qualified for the NCAA championships13 - Number of men's swimmers and divers who received degrees in 2011-1214 - Number of freshmen swimmers who will join the Buckeyes this season15 - Number of All-America honors earned between two new members of the Ohio State coaching staff. Dave Rollins joins the program as an assistant coach; bringing his experience as a NCAA champion and nine-time All-American at the University of Arizona. Also joining the staff will be recent Ohio State graduate Andrew Elliott, who will volunteer while pursuing a master's degree in sports management.20 - Number of Top 20 finishes at the NCAA championships under Bill Wadley.28 - Total number of current, incoming or former OSU men's swimmers invited to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials this past summer.28 - Members of the team hail from the great state of Ohio. Other states represented are: Texas (3); Indiana (3); Kentucky (2); Arizona (1); Nebraska (1); Connecticut (1); New Jersey (1); South Carolina (1); Florida (1); West Virginia (1); Wisconsin (1); Michigan (1); Oregon (1). There are also three international student-athletes205 - Total number of wins Bill Wadley has acquired at Ohio State.

TEAM IS AN ACADEMIC HEAVYWEIGHT IN THE CLASSROOM, TOODominant in the water last year – 2nd at Big Tens and 11th at NCAAs – Ohio State was also dominant in the classroom as a team. The team the most improved team grade-point average and the top team GPA among men’s programs. In all a total of 38 student-athletes from the team were named either an OSU Scholar-Athlete, Academic All-Big Ten Conference or both in 2011-12.

UP NEXTThe Buckeyes return to the pool at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 in a co-ed meet vs. Denison at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.